


Downpour

by baeconandeggs, latesleeper



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Hotarubi no Mori e, Angst, Fantasy, Fluff, Human!Baekhyun, Humor, M/M, Mutual Pining, Romance, Spirit!chanyeol, Tragedy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-05-21
Updated: 2018-05-21
Packaged: 2019-05-09 22:44:01
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 15,279
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/14724995
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/baeconandeggs/pseuds/baeconandeggs, https://archiveofourown.org/users/latesleeper/pseuds/latesleeper
Summary: Baekhyun is twelve years old when he visits his grandmother for the first time on summer vacation. It’s also the year he meets a man with a fox mask named Chanyeol. [Inspired/Based on Hotarubi no Mori e]





	Downpour

**Author's Note:**

  * Translation into Русский available: [Downpour](https://archiveofourown.org/works/15996701) by [remember_the_beautiful_us](https://archiveofourown.org/users/remember_the_beautiful_us/pseuds/remember_the_beautiful_us)



> **Prompt #:** BAE185  
>  **Disclaimer: baeconandeggs/the mods is/are not the author/s of this story. Authors will be credited and tagged after reveals.** The celebrities' names/images are merely borrowed and do not represent who the celebrities are in real life. No offense is intended towards them, their families or friends. The original characters and plot are the property of the author. No money is being made from this fictional work. No copyright infringement is intended.
> 
>  **Author's Note:** First, thank you _so_ much for the mods because it took me two extension to finish this (never again I write 15k lol). For the prompter, I hope you'll like it although I think it's probably not angsty enough for you lmao :") For my friends who always give me supports in the middle of my breakdown, THANK YOU SO MUCH XOXO. P.S: the story starts from 2011.

Baekhyun is twelve years old when he visits his grandmother for the first time on summer vacation. It’s an unexpected plan made by his parents when they have to go overseas for their job and no one could stay at home with Baekhyun. They thought it would be good for him to go outside instead of playing games at home, so they send him to the countryside, with weak signal and lack of air conditioning so there’s absolutely no reason to stay inside.

“It’s only for a week,” they said.

“It would be fun!” his dad added afterward when Baekhyun looked at them in disagreement, “I remember how much fun I had lived at the house and playing around the neighborhood, especially when I—” and he won’t stop babbling about his good old days.

At the end, of course, he lost. It came off as no surprise but still made him disappointed as he said goodbye to his beloved PC and brought his bag outside, to the car that already waited for him. Three days later, here he is, laying on the cold wooden floor of the living room. His grandmother went out so he’s currently alone at home.

He huffs loudly before wiping his bangs that stick to his forehead. It’s not as humid as Seoul, maybe because there’s less pollution here, but it’s still hot and he can feel himself slowly melting on the floor.

After a while, he refuses to give in as he gets up to his feet and stepping outside the house. It’s better that he goes somewhere than staying at home and torturing himself. He walks through the deserted streets aimlessly, thinking if he should go to Sehun’s place again. Sehun is his grandmother’s neighbor kid, and he’s two years younger than Baekhyun. He’s still somewhat shy around Baekhyun but he’s confident to say that he can count them as friends. But a small part of himself wants to do something else, but really, there’s not much he can do at this place.

He sighs loudly. He should have convinced his parents harder that he can stay at home alone, or he can stay at his friends’ house. Why didn’t he think of that before?

Baekhyun feels like throwing tantrum, but then his eyes catch something when he looks up. From where he stands, he can see the mountain and the forest under it. He heard from his grandmother that it’s safe to go there, but he’s not allowed to go alone. “You will get lost,” she said.

And of course, Baekhyun sets the warning aside as he walks to the path that will bring him to the forest. It doesn’t take long for him to arrive at the said place, and it doesn’t take long either for him to get lost, just like what his grandmother warned him.

“I should have made a sign on the tree or something,” he whines for only remembering that he can do something like the main character in a movie does when they explore an unknown forest.

He lost track of time and it’s almost dusk when he swears he’s back to the same spot he was a couple minutes ago. He ponders for a moment, asking himself if he can wail loud enough that someone will hear him and find him, but before he can test it, the rustles on the bushes successfully make him shrieks in fear.

“Who’s there?!”

It can be anything, including an animal. Baekhyun prays it’s not something dangerous or can run fast because he’s no runner and he will get caught easily.

What he doesn’t expect to see is a tall man wearing a fox mask.

Baekhyun freezes on his spot and no one says anything until the man breaks the silence with, “You are lost.”

Is he asking Baekhyun or—

“No, I know you are lost.”

Apparently, Baekhyun doesn’t have any control over his own body because he said that out loud instead of wondering quietly. How embarrassing.

“Um, can you help me to find a way back?” Baekhyun asks, “I lived down there, at the neighborhood.”

The man doesn’t answer right away, leaving Baekhyun wonders what kind of expression he has under the mask.

“Okay, follow me,” but then he stops Baekhyun when he takes a step to closer to him, “But please, don’t be so close to me.”

“Why not?”

His question meets another silence.

“Fine, I won’t. But please, don’t leave me alone.”

The man nods. “I won’t.”

Somehow it eases Baekhyun a little as he follows the man, although suddenly many questions spark inside his head - _Who are you? How old are you? Why are you so tall? Where do you live? Why are you wearing a mask?_ \- but he swallows all of it because this man has an aura around him that makes him unapproachable, even to Baekhyun who easily makes friends with anyone and anytime.

Baekhyun is so caught up in his thought that he doesn’t realize that he’s already back to the main road that he took before.

“I’m back! Wohooo!” he yells gleefully while throwing his fist at the sky. “Thank you so much for helping me!”

“It’s fine, but remember, don’t go to the forest alone unless you want to be lost again,” the man warns him, but instead of feels intimidated by his words, Baekhyun can hear a hint of care through his voice.

“Okay!”

“Go home already.”

Before the man taking a step to leave, Baekhyun yells, “I’ll bring something tomorrow!” The man halts his steps, “As a thank you. I mean, you helped me and my parents say that’s what you supposed to do if someone is being nice to you. I can go back around noon—”

“I told you not to go to the forest again.”

Baekhyun frowns. “No, you told me not to go _alone_.”

“So you will bring someone else tomorrow?”

“Um, no?” Baekhyun can sense a judging stare through the mask the man’s wearing, “But I just want to say thank you because you helped me to go back or else I would spend the night alone at the forest.”

Before the man can protest, Baekhyun already cuts him, “I’ll go back tomorrow! I promise!”

He already running back towards the houses, away from the forest, before the man can say anything. He doesn’t look back either, afraid that the man is a part of his imagination if he suddenly not there anymore.

He keeps striding forward until he arrives at his home. His grandmother scolds him, asking where did he go and she was worried. Baekhyun lied, saying he was taking a walk and it’s already dusk by then. Maybe he’s a good actor because she believes him, only saying that he should leave a note if he wants to go somewhere so she won’t be worried. He promises her that he will do so from now on before excusing himself, saying he will take a bath first before joining her for dinner.

He spends the rest of the night playing with the PSP that he brought, but the image of the fox mask man doesn’t leave his mind until he falls asleep.

A day after that, ready with a plain t-shirt and gym shorts, he excuses himself, saying that he will go play with Sehun. He feels bad for lying to his grandmother but he already promised the man that he would come again.

“Alright, but you have to go back before dinner,” she sternly says and Baekhyun immediately nodding his head. Thankfully, his grandmother doesn’t ask why he brings a plastic bag filled with popsicles. Maybe she thought he will share it with Sehun.

Baekhyun walks to the same path to the forest and he wonders if the man will be there. If he’s not, then how he can give him the popsicles? Does he have to be lost again in order to meet him?

Fortunately, he doesn’t need to do that when he sees the man already waiting for him, leaning his back to the tree with his arms folded across his chest. “You are here,” he breathes out.

The man shrugs. “I have a feeling you will try to find me if I’m not here, and you will get lost again.”

Baekhyun wants to argue that he won’t get lost easily for the second time, but he doesn’t want to start a useless fight and instead, offers him the popsicle. “I hope you like watermelon.”

The man accepts it. “Thank you.”

He takes a seat on his spot and pries open the wrap. He pushes his mask slightly, revealing his mouth before licking the popsicle.

 _At least he has a mouth like a normal person,_ Baekhyun sighs in relief. He can’t imagine what if the man covers his face because he has a different face or something. He might run away, but he also doesn’t want to run because this is the man who helped him yesterday and he wants to know the man better.

They eat the popsicles in silence and after both of them are done with the first portion, Chanyeol put down the mask again. Really, this whole mask thing makes Baekhyun _really_ curious, but there’s another important thing that he has to ask first, which is, “What’s your name?”

“Why do you ask?”

“Because I can’t keep calling you ‘fox mask man’ in my head,” Baekhyun scrunches his nose, “It’s weird.”

The man chuckles. “Chanyeol.”

“Chanyeol?”

The man nods.

“Just ‘Chanyeol’?”

“Just ‘Chanyeol’,” he confirms. “And you?”

“Byun Baekhyun,” he answers. “Did you think of me as the lost kid?”

“Yes and no.”

Baekhyun sure is confused by that. Why Chanyeol can’t just answer it in a simple way?

“What?”

“Yes because I did, but no, I’d also think of you as the lost kid _and_ the stubborn kid.”

Baekhyun whines immediately. “I’m not stubborn!”

“Said someone who insists to bring back a treat.”

“My parents will be proud if they know I did what they told me to do,” Baekhyun puffs his chest proudly. “Anyway, how old are you? I’m twelve, are you older than me? Is that why you are so tall?”

“I’m much older than you but I don’t know if it has anything to do with me being tall,” Chanyeol replies. “But if it is, then you can grow taller too.”

“I will, of course! I will grow even taller than you!”

“Let’s see, then.”

They fall into another silence before Baekhyun asks, “Do you want to explore the forest?”

“Why? Do you want to?” Chanyeol asks back, which earns him an eager nod. “There’s nothing special in here.”

“And there’s nothing special down there either, and it’s hotter too. Here is actually better because at least I can feel the wind,” Baekhyun sighs. “Come on, I’ll die in boredom soon if I don’t do anything.”

Maybe Chanyeol takes a pity on him as he suddenly stands up and nudges his head toward the forest. “Let’s go.”

Baekhyun doesn’t bother to hide his excitement as he follows Chanyeol. He doesn’t walk too close to him when he remembers Chanyeol asking him to do that yesterday, but he also wants to close the distance between them, so he settles by telling everything about himself to Chanyeol. He talks about where he comes from, why he’s here, his parents, his friends, his initial plan for summer than involves him staying inside his room with his beloved PC and air conditioning, his hobbies, his favorite food, his abandoned homework for summer break—literally everything.

He thought Chanyeol doesn’t listen to him at all because he either lets out a small _‘hmm’_ or responds so little to him. When he stops midway because he doesn’t know if it’s okay for him to keep rambling, Chanyeol turns his head to him and asks, “Why do you stop?”

It makes him smile widely. “Okay, um, what did I just talk about? Oh, right, the dog! So you know, I’d really want to have one but my parents always say I need to learn how to take care of myself first before taking care of others. I mean, how hard it is to take care of a dog? He only plays, eats and sleep. He doesn’t do anything!”

“Maybe they don’t want you to have more distraction?” Chanyeol shrugs. “You said so yourself, that you don’t like studying because playing game is better. Maybe you will stop study completely if you have a dog.”

It takes Baekhyun a moment for him to let the answer sink down before he groans, “You might be right! Oh no, does it mean I will never get a dog for the rest of my life? But I always want to have one! They’re so cute, Chanyeol, you have to see their wiggly butt and adorable face!”

Chanyeol chuckles. “Then you have to convince your parents.”

“I’m trying to,” Baekhyun looks down dejectedly.

As if he senses a change in Baekhyun’s mood, Chanyeol suddenly says, “Hey, we have arrived.”

“Huh, arrived where—”

Baekhyun gasps when he looks up and sees the wide grass field filled with flowers here and there right in front of them. He never thought that something like this exists at this small countryside, and he’s left gaping like a fish on his spot, not knowing exactly what to say.

“Are you okay?” Chanyeol asks.

“Yes,” he breathes out, “Mostly surprised but who doesn’t if you show them this place?”

Chanyeol doesn’t reply to him right away and Baekhyun can’t guess what’s on his mind at the moment.

“This is one of my favorite places,” Chanyeol confesses, “Hearing someone else saying that makes me a little happy.”

Baekhyun smiles at that. “What do you like to do here?”

“Nothing.”

“Nothing?”

Chanyeol shrugs. “Just laying on the ground and watching the clouds?”

“Um, that’s cool.”

Chanyeol doesn’t seem to be convinced that Baekhyun really thinks it’s cool—he actually thinks it kinds of boring, to be honest—so he just laying on the ground and gestures Baekhyun to do the same. The sky looks even bigger when Baekhyun glances up from his position.

“I love this place because no one hardly ever comes here. Sometimes, there are few kids but since they need to walk deep inside, most of them get lost and can’t find this place again,” Chanyeol explains, “I can do anything I want here. Oh, look, that cloud looks like a dog, right?”

Baekhyun barely hears what Chanyeol says after that because when he steals a glance at the man, all he can think of is how lonely Chanyeol sounds. No matter how much Baekhyun loves playing video games alone in his room, he loves playing his friends even more. But here, Chanyeol is alone and he seems to prefer it that way. It just sounds… sad, especially since Chanyeol is actually a nice person to be around. He doesn’t annoy Baekhyun like some people he knew and he listens to Baekhyun because he’s interested in what he says, not just him being polite and want to be like by someone.

“Chanyeol?”

“Hm?”

“Is it okay if I come again tomorrow?” he asks.

“Why do you want to come again?”

“Because I like it here, and I like having you around,” he admits honestly, “I can bring popsicles again or if you want, I can also bring games to play together or we can play hide and seek or something. I’m down with anything.”

Again, Chanyeol doesn’t answer him right away but then he shrugs and says, “Why not?”

Baekhyun can’t explain how happy he is to hear that.

They spend the entire time laying on the ground and Baekhyun rambling again, but this time, Chanyeol sometimes chips in to say something. Before Baekhyun realizes it, the sky already turns into orange hue and he remembers what his grandmother says.

“Hey, sorry but I have to go home. Grandma says I have to be home before dinner,” he pouts, “Although I don’t want to leave.”

“But you will be here again tomorrow,” Chanyeol reminds him, “Come on, I’ll walk you to the path.”

Baekhyun hums and tries to get up although it’s pretty hard because he spent a long time laying down and his limb seems to forgot how to work. Chanyeol offers his hand before he quickly pulls his hand away, awkwardly asks, “Um, are you okay?”

It’s kinda weird, but Baekhyun quickly dismisses it as he says, “I’m okay, I got it.”

He stands and rubs the dirt off his pants before following quietly behind Chanyeol. Now, the silence between them have turned to be less awkward and it makes Baekhyun happy that he manages to close the distance a little.

Once they’re back at the outside of the forest, where a path leads to the neighborhood, Baekhyun excitedly waves while yelling, “See you tomorrow!”

He sees Chanyeol waving back at him before he running along the path, hoping he will arrive at home on time or his Grandmother will scold him again.

—

The next day, Baekhyun is back with a handful of popsicles and a board game that his grandmother keeps on the shelf, saying it’s his grandfather’s favorite and she have kept it since he passed away. She said it’s okay if Baekhyun wanted to play with it so he figured he would play it together with Chanyeol today.

When he arrives at the usual spot, he expects Chanyeol already waiting for him, but he doesn’t see the taller guy anywhere.

“Chanyeol?” he calls while looking around.

“Hey, kid.”

Baekhyun quickly turns around at the unfamiliar voice calling him and he’s faced with two men standing in front of him. One of them has big, round eyes that glare at him, while the other is grinning like a Cheshire cat. Baekhyun doesn’t recognize any of them.

“W-who are you?” he asks.

“I’m Jongdae, and he’s Kyungsoo,” the grinning guy says, introducing both of them, “You’re waiting for Chanyeol, right?”

At the mentioned of Chanyeol, Baekhyun nods his head. “Yes, do you know him?”

“We’re friends,” the one with the big eyes says—Kyungsoo, right?

“And as his friends, we’re curious seeing him making friend with someone else,” Jongdae points at him, “Especially a human kid.”

“We want to warn you too,” Kyungsoo adds, “Never, I repeat, _never_ touch Chanyeol.”

Intimidated by both of them, Baekhyun cowers in fear, “W-why?”

“Because he will disappear,” Jongdae answers.

Before Baekhyun can blurt out another why, Chanyeol suddenly appears behind Jongdae and Kyungsoo, saying lowly, “Stop scaring him.”

Jongdae jumps in surprise while Kyungsoo remains calm as if he expected Chanyeol to pull the move. “We just warned him so he knows what’s gonna happen.”

Baekhyun assumes Chanyeol is glaring at Kyungsoo through his mask and the other does the same before Chanyeol sighs deeply, a sign of him giving in. “I’m fine, Kyungsoo. You don’t have to worry,” he says, “You too, Jongdae.”

“Alright, I won’t. But you have to be careful,” Jongdae turns back at Baekhyun, “Remember, kid, please don’t touch him. Promise us.”

Baekhyun doesn’t know what else to say so he just nods his head, and in a blink, Jongdae and Kyungsoo suddenly disappear in front of him.

“What?! They disappeared!”

Chanyeol simply chuckles. “Yeah, they did.”

“How?!”

“Because they’re ghosts.”

Baekhyun freezes on his spot before he blinks furiously. “Ghosts? So you said I just talked with a ghost?”

“Um, yes.”

“Oh my God!” he yells out loud, “That’s so cool! I just saw and talked with ghosts! Wow, never did that before, oh... _wow_. That’s so creepy and awesome at the same time!”

Chanyeol must be looking at him weirdly, but Baekhyun doesn’t care. Something cool just happened to him so he should let him celebrate it a little.

“You said that as if you never saw a spirit before,” Chanyeol comments on him.

Baekhyun halts before looking up at him. “Yeah, that was the first one.”

“Huh?” Chanyeol tilts his head confusedly, “You don’t know I’m a spirit?”

Baekhyun blinks. “You are?”

Chanyeol’s silence seems to be an answer for him.

“Wait, you are? So that’s why they said you will disappear if I touch you because you’re a spirit?”

Chanyeol chooses to shut his mouth, and instead, he turns his back and start heading to the forest. Knowing he won’t leave him alone here, Baekhyun trails behind him quietly. They spend the time walking before Chanyeol opens his mouth, murmuring, “To be honest, I’m not sure what I am.”

He doesn’t stop walking, so Baekhyun doesn’t either.

“When I was a child, I was abandoned here. Other spirits said I was crying helplessly and if they didn’t do anything, I would die soon enough, but the Mountain God took a pity on me. He put a spell so I could continue living, but there’s a condition,” Chanyeol turns his head at Baekhyun, “Never touch a human or I’ll disappear.”

“Why?”

“I don’t know,” Chanyeol looks down at his hand while flexing it a little, “Maybe because the spell is not as powerful as we thought it would be. Maybe it’s a fragile thing, breakable if I have to say.”

“That’s why they came to warn me,” Baekhyun bites lips nervously, “Chanyeol?”

“Hm?”

“Please, promise me, you will never touch me no matter what happens.”

Chanyeol halts his steps, forcing Baekhyun to stop on his track. “Why?”

“Because I like you enough that I don’t want you to disappear so please, promise me?”

As always, Chanyeol doesn’t reply to him immediately, but he nods his head slowly before moving to another topic as he points at the bag that Baekhyun brings. “What do you have there?”

“Just some popsicles and a board game.”

“Then let’s eat it before it melts and I don’t know what game is that so you have to teach me.”

“Okay!”

Chanyeol doesn’t mention about his condition again and Baekhyun follows along, but he swears that he will never forget or break the promise no matter what happens.

—

Just like that, Baekhyun spends the rest of his summer vacation with Chanyeol by his side. He had a lot of fun to be honest, like the time when they’re playing hide and seek with Chanyeol trying to hide but failed because he’s too big or when they found a river and tried to catch a fish by bare hands which they failed miserably. It breaks his heart a little when he needs to reminds Chanyeol that he’s only here for a vacation and he will go back tomorrow.

“I know, I remember,” Chanyeol says.

He doesn’t sound unhappy like Baekhyun, so it makes him a little sad.

“But you can come again next year,” he continues, “Or the year after that, and the year after that again and so on. You can always come back, I won’t go anywhere.”

Baekhyun blinks at that before a smile blooms on his face. “Okay.”

From that year, summer has become a season that Baekhyun looking forward ever since. After he comes back to Seoul, to his beloved room, he start counting on days where he can go back to meet Chanyeol. He never forgets him and he misses him sometimes, thinking how great it is if Chanyeol is only a few steps away from home, not thousand miles away.

When the summer rolls again the year of his thirteenth birthday, Baekhyun asks his parents if he can go back to his grandmother’s house from now on for summer vacation. “I think I love being around nature,” he says, which gets approval from his father, saying he finally can relate to what his son says. He gets a green light from his mom as well, but as always, she reminds him to do his summer break homework and he quickly says yes, although he probably won’t get anything done just like last year.

This year, he’s more than ready as he brings more stuff that will make things more interested. His bag is a little heavier but it’s fine. When he’s back to the room where he lived on last year, nothing changes. It’s still hot and Baekhyun still thinks he will die because of the humidity.

“Where are you going?” his grandmother asks when she notices Baekhyun running to the front door.

“Playing outside.”

“Don’t forget to go back before dinner!”

“Okay!”

He heads outside and runs to the familiar path that he still remembers after a year not coming back. Once he arrives at the spot where they made a promise to meet again by this spot, there’s no sight of Chanyeol.

At first, he feels disappointed. Maybe he’s late? Or worst, maybe he forgot their promise?

“Hey.”

Baekhyun turns his head to the voice calling him and he beams at Chanyeol, who’s leaning back to the tree. He still looks the same with the fox mask and obviously still taller than Baekhyun. He wonders if someday it’s possible for him to surface Chanyeol’s height.

“Hey,” Baekhyun greets back, “I bring popsicles.”

“Thank you, and Baekhyun?”

“Hm?”

“Good to see you again.”

Baekhyun can’t help to smile at that and for a split second, he really wants to give Chanyeol a big hug but sadly, he can’t do that. “Good to see you too, Chanyeol.”

That summer, Baekhyun and Chanyeol spend most of the time laying on the grass field while looking at the sky. As usual, Baekhyun does most of the talking, babbling about everything that had happened in a year including another of his failed attempt at getting a puppy. Chanyeol thinks he should give up, but Baekhyun is too stubborn to think about it.

“Oh right, you have to see this,” Baekhyun pulls his phone out of his pocket and opens Google Maps. Beside him, Chanyeol must be looking at his phone curiously.

“The thing is we can see the street view using this application so I can show you my house,” Baekhyun typed on his address and zooms in on the street in front his apartment, “This is where I live.”

“This is your house?! Why is it so big?”

Amused by his respond, Baekhyun explains, “It’s called apartment. In one apartment, they have many rooms so many people can live inside it. My family lives only in one room at the twenty floor, not the entire thing is ours.”

“It sounds convenient,” Chanyeol comments.

“I guess so,” Baekhyun types another address, “This is my school.”

“Oh, it’s really big too! Is every building in Seoul always this big?”

“Most of them are big, but not all of them. There’s this one Chinese food place near my house that only fits like ten people?”

Chanyeol lets out a low ‘ _ooh_ ’ before he urges Baekhyun to show him other places. He start from his favorite gaming center, fried chicken place, the mall where his mom likes to drag him around whenever she’s shopping for clothes, to the famous Han River.

“There’s a park next to it and it’s usually full of people every weekend. There are dance and music attraction, people selling food and drinks, people cycling and exercising, everything. Even you can order food and ask them to deliver it to the park.”

“That _really_ sounds convenient,” Chanyeol chuckles, “Seoul sounds like a good place for living.”

“Yeah, I like it there. If only can bring you there.”

“Maybe someday I can go there, and you can teach me how to ride a bicycle and we can ride it together with those two people bicycle.”

It sounds impossible to Baekhyun because with Chanyeol’s condition, he won’t live long there. Chanyeol can’t avoid human because there’s a lot of them in Seoul, more than the number of people who lives in this countryside.

But hearing Chanyeol saying that, a kid can dream, right?

So, he settles with, “I’ll wait until that day comes.”

The rest of the time that they don’t spend talking, they spend on sleeping instead. Sometimes, both of them sleep until late evening. Sometimes, Baekhyun wakes up first and quietly watches the sleeping Chanyeol by his side while contemplating if it’s okay for him to lift his mask.

One day, he decides to _‘screw it’_ and slowly reaches to Chanyeol’s mask. His hand grazes lightly before pulling it slightly to reveal the bottom part of his face, but before he can go further, Chanyeol’s voice startling him in process.

“What are you doing?”

Baekhyun pulls his hand away immediately. “Um, sorry, I just... wanted to see your face.”

Chanyeol sighs. _Uh-oh_ , is he mad?

“You don’t have to sneak around,” Chanyeol slowly gets up to a sitting position, “If you want to see it, you just have to tell me.”

Chanyeol suddenly pulls up the mask and reveals the face that had tickled the curiosity inside Baekhyun since day one. Baekhyun almost misses the smooth skin, the sharp jawline and the perfect slope of his nose when all he sees is Chanyeol’s eyes. It’s a bright grey color with a slit-shaped pupil, just like a cat.

Baekhyun swears something flutter inside of him when Chanyeol flashes him a smile. He also feels his cheeks grow warmer at times and he doesn’t know why that happens.

“So, what do you think?” Chanyeol asks.

Baekhyun clears his throat, trying to avoid looking straight into Chanyeol’s eyes unless he wants to get lost in it. “You look like a human.”

Chanyeol hums. “I know right? That’s why I use a mask, so no one will mistake me as a human.”

His eyes beam at Baekhyun before he puts back his mask, but the fluttering feeling doesn’t go away for a while.

—

When Baekhyun is fourteen years old, he finds something he likes aside from playing games and he makes sure to show it to Chanyeol when they meet again for the third year in a row.

“You don’t bring any games?” Chanyeol nudges his chin at the bag on Baekhyun’s hand.

“Nope, but I have a speaker right here.”

“For what?”

Baekhyun smirks. “You’ll see.”

He kinds of expect Chanyeol to look at him weirdly as they arrive at the grass field and Baekhyun immediately turns on the speaker and picks a song from his phone. An upbeat tone at the full volume blasts out through the speaker, surprising Chanyeol a little.

“Baekhyun, what is this?”

“This is a popular song at the moment! It’s from one of the best girl groups in the history!” Baekhyun excitedly shaking his body to the beat and singing the lyric of SNSD’s I Got A Boy easily as he already memorized it by listening to it every night. “ _I got a boy meotjin, I got a boy chakan, I got a boy handsome boy nae mam da gajeogan!_ ”

Chanyeol freezes on his spot as he watches Baekhyun hyping to the song until the end. “Um, wow,” is the only thing he manages to say.

“It’s a good song, right?!” Baekhyun grins. “I’m really into Korean pop this year because there are so many good songs. Oh, you have to listen to this one! Seriously, it becomes famous recently.”

Baekhyun puts on Crayon Pop’s Bar Bar Bar at full volume and he doesn’t get bothered by Jongdae and Kyungsoo who suddenly appeared out of nowhere. After knowing them for a well, he grows accustomed to them and it makes him no longer surprised every time they come and go as they like.

Baekhyun hears Jongdae asking Chanyeol, “What is he doing?”

“Showing his latest obsession, apparently.”

Kyungsoo simply judging Baekhyun when he dances at the _‘jumping hey jumping, everybody!’_ moves.

After the song is finished, Baekhyun pouts at them. “Come on, guys, you have to dance together with me!”

“I don’t know the songs,” Jongdae states.

“I can’t dance,” Chanyeol tries to reason him.

“I don’t want to,” Kyungsoo refuses flatly.

“Nonsense! I can teach you all to dance,” Baekhyun points at Kyungsoo, “And I don’t accept ‘no’ as an answer.”

Baekhyun scrolls through his playlist and choose an easy song so the others can follow him. He picks APink’s NoNoNo and turns to them, pretending to be oblivious to how much they don’t want to do this, “Are you guys ready?”

“No?” Chanyeol supplies not so helpfully.

Jongdae and Chanyeol are bad like he expected it to be, especially with them not knowing how to shake their butt, which left Kyungsoo who’s actually… pretty good.

“Weirdly, Kyungsoo looked like he didn’t want to do it the most but did a better job than the others,” Baekhyun says, which earns laughter from both Jongdae and Chanyeol.

“You can be an idol in your next life, Kyungsoo,” Jongdae suggests jokingly.

“Maybe we all can be members of the same group,” Baekhyun’s mind wander a little, thinking how cool it sounds.

“It sounds tiring,” Kyungsoo takes a breath, “I’m tired.”

“Ghost can get tired too?” Baekhyun asks curiously.

“Yeah, because I said so,” Kyungsoo answers with sarcasm dripping in his voice. “Sometimes I wonder why Chanyeol has to be friends with a hyper kid instead of a quiet grandma.”

“Because there’s no way a quiet grandma will wander her way through the forest,” Baekhyun retorts back, “Okay, next song!”

It earns several groans but no one can stop him from playing SISTAR’s song. _No one_.

—

“That was fun! I knew bringing speaker would be a great decision!” Baekhyun grins at Chanyeol who’s laying on the ground, probably dying from all the dance session. Kyungsoo and Jongdae have left dance halfway through because they couldn’t take anymore dance.

“Next time, a heads up will be nice so I can prepare myself first,” Chanyeol wheezes, “I’m so tired.”

Baekhyun laughs in return. “Don’t worry, you’ll live.”

“I know,” Chanyeol replies, “You never said that you can sing.”

Baekhyun shrugs. “It’s nothing special.”

“But you have a good voice.”

“It doesn’t matter!” Baekhyun snaps, his mind suddenly clouded by anger although it quickly gets replaced by guilt. “Sorry, I don’t mean to yell at you.”

Chanyeol waves his hand dismissively. “It’s okay, it’s my fault for pushing it.”

Baekhyun knows that it doesn’t matter if he wants to tell Chanyeol or not judging by Chanyeol who chooses to be quiet after that. He can easily change the subject, move on to another topic, but instead, he opens his mouth to say, “Actually, my dream is to become a singer.”

“You said you wanted to be a professional gamer.”

“It was the dream I had after my parents didn’t allow me to be a singer. Do you know how many people debut every year in the music industry?” Chanyeol shakes his head, “More than two hundred people, either as a solo singer or a group. Do you know how many of them that actually make a name in the industry? Not even quarter of it.”

“What happens to them if they can’t make it?”

“They just simply disbanded and looking for another job. Some have to keep trying for years before they eventually get known.”

“Your parents don’t want you to go through that path, is that right?”

Baekhyun nods somberly. “They support it as a hobby, but as a future job? They’re not. I know it’s not an easy path, but singing makes me happy. I don’t know why they can’t see that.”

Baekhyun recalls the time he became a participant in the singing competition at his school and he never felt so alive before, standing at the stage with a mic in his hand. He knew right there and then that he belongs there.

“Someday, they might understand, but until that day comes, you can’t give up on that dream,” Chanyeol says, “I like listening to you singing and I’m sure other people will think the same. I know you can make it.”

“You sound awfully sure.”

“Because I believe in you.”

Hearing Chanyeol saying that makes Baekhyun almost bursts into tears. Most people say he should find another job that will bring a lot of money, that he should go for something that he can reach instead of running after something uncertain. It’s the first time he heard someone supporting him because he sees something in Baekhyun and he believes in him.

That evening, a fire inside that had died out start to light again and Baekhyun can’t thank Chanyeol enough for it.

—

Baekhyun received many presents for his fifteen birthday. His parents gave him a new phone, saying this is also because his grade is better than before and he deserves it. His close neighbors bought a frosted chocolate cake and gave him pocket money that Baekhyun gladly accepted. His friends got him several things, including few copies of adult magazine. “We don’t know what you like so we got different things,” they simply said. Baekhyun almost popped his eyes out when he opened one of it, wondering where they got something like _that_. He tucked all of the magazines securely behind his clothes drawer, praying no one will find it.

But his favorite gift from all is a welsh corgi puppy from his aunt.

He doesn’t know how his aunt managed to convince Baekhyun’s parents to give in and let him have a dog, but he couldn’t care less, not when the adorable corgi hopping around Baekhyun with his tiny feet. He named him Mongryong and builds a photo album dedicated to him inside his new phone’s gallery.

“He’s so cute,” Chanyeol coos over the photos of Mongryong on his morning strolling, “Why you didn’t bring him here?”

“My parents didn’t let me. They didn’t want me to trouble grandmother more with her taking care of me _and_ a puppy,” Baekhyun’s face turns somber.

“Hey, it’s okay,” Chanyeol cheers him up, “Who knows, maybe next year they will let you bring them.”

Baekhyun immediately lights up. “Maybe they will! I mean, I will be sixteen years old next year. I’m big enough that I won’t add any burden to grandmother.”

“That’s the spirits,” Chanyeol chuckles. “Don’t you think time flies away so fast? It still felt like yesterday when I met you for the first time, a little Baekhyun got lost in the middle of the forest.”

“I’m not a little guy anymore!”

“You still are. Your height hasn’t surfaced over my shoulder.”

“That’s because you’re so tall!” Baekhyun huffs in frustration, “Is it because you’re older than me? Some of my friends had a growth spurt the older they get.”

Chanyeol shrugs. “I don’t even know how old I am.”

Baekhyun blinks. “You don’t?”

“Yeah. We hardly keep track of time, let alone our age. Besides we don’t change appearance either, there are no young or old people here.”

“But you look young.”

“I stopped growing once I’ve reached this appearance. I don’t remember when that happened. It could happen ten years ago, or maybe fifty years ago—I don’t know.”

“Does it mean you never celebrate your birthday before?”

“I didn’t even know something like that existed until you told me so.”

To be honest, birthday is not something important to Baekhyun either, but he always feels happy every time the day comes because his family along with others will gather together to celebrate it and moments like that is exactly why Baekhyun loves his birthday. Not having a birthday and no one to celebrate with sounds really sad to him.

Well, if Chanyeol doesn’t have one, they just have to make one.

“Okay, from now on, your birthday is on summer,” Baekhyun declares, “Every time I come here, we will celebrate it together. I’ll bring foods and you can invite other spirits!”

Chanyeol says nothing for a moment, making Baekhyun wonders what expression he has under his mask. _Oh no_ , maybe he hates the idea?

“Um, sorry if you don’t like it—”

“No, it’s okay,” Chanyeol takes a breath, “I just feel so happy I don’t know what to say.”

“Really?”

“Yeah. Do I sound too eager if I say I’m looking forward to it?”

Baekhyun shakes his head while grinning at Chanyeol. “No, you’re not.”

As the time goes by, Baekhyun thinks he’s actually the one who’s eager to celebrate Chanyeol’s birthday. He makes a list of things to prepare for Chanyeol’s birthday— _is Chanyeol okay with chocolate cake, or strawberry shortcake will be better? What else should he bring? Balloons? Party hats? Party blowers? He’s not gonna be mad if Baekhyun brings a speaker and makes dance party, right?_

When the cold weather start picking up, a thin shirt is replaced by sweater and Baekhyun is done with his list, except for one thing. He doesn’t know what present to get for Chanyeol.

He usually gives his friends a new game to play with or an album of their favorite singer, but he knows it’s not something that Chanyeol likes so he’s stuck. When he asks his mom, she answers easily, “You can give him something to wear, like t-shirt or hat.”

That’s how he ends up at a clothing store near his school, entering it without any idea what to get. Since winter is coming soon enough, most of the clothes are winter necessity such as coats, thick jacket, sweater, etc.

Baekhyun never thought he would buy something like that for Chanyeol but he heard winter in the countryside can be pretty cold and although Chanyeol may not feel cold when the winter comes, just in case he does, there’s nothing wrong in giving him something to make him feel warmer right?

Baekhyun shuffles through a bunch of jackets when someone asks, “Can I help you with something?”

Baekhyun finds a man wearing a sweater and ‘Kim Minseok’ on his a name tag looking at him expectantly. “Um, I’m looking for something, as a present.”

“Okay, do you have any idea what to get for them?”

Baekhyun shakes his head, looking as clueless as ever, which make the Minseok guy laughs.

“It’s okay,” he says, “Do you know anything that he will like to wear? Maybe hat or jacket?”

Baekhyun recalls the only pair of t-shirt and training pants that Chanyeol always wears and thinks _‘nope he’s certainly not making this easy for me’_.

“He’s not into fashion and just wears plain clothes,” Baekhyun settles with, knowing he’s not being helpful at all.

“Then maybe you can buy him something different and get him into fashion,” Minseok grins at him. “We can start with jacket or coats. This is the newest addition to our collection.”

Minseok leads Baekhyun around and shows him a lot of options. Some of them are something that he can’t imagine Chanyeol wearing, some of them are way out of Baekhyun’s budget.

“Since winter means layering clothes, many people like to buy a sweater or hoodie and layers it with coats or long padded jacket,” Minseok shows him a mannequin who wears a few layers, “And we have it in plain colors and patterns.”

Baekhyun reaches for a black hoodie and feels the thickness of fabric. “Wow, it’s quite warm.”

Minseok chuckles. “I know right.”

Baekhyun checks the price and nods his head in satisfaction as he sees the number is within his budget. “Do you have this in a larger size?”

“Yes, we have it until XXL.”

“Um, what size I should get if this person is skinny and tall? He’s around 185 cm, I guess?”

“He can be L or XL,” Minseok then proceed to search for another size and once he finds it, he puts it side by side for Baekhyun to compare it.

“I think he will fit L,” Baekhyun decides.

“Okay, do you want to pay for it now?”

Baekhyun nods before he follows Minseok obediently to the cashier.

“Do you want me to take the tag off and wrap it?” Minseok asks.

“Just take the tag off.”

He grows nervous as he waits for Minseok to count in his order. What if Chanyeol doesn’t like what he got? What if it doesn’t fit him? What if Chanyeol actually feels cold in winter and this is not thick enough?

“I’m sure he will like it,” Minseok says.

“What?”

“The one who will get this, I’m sure he will like whatever you buy for him,” Minseok smiles, “Tell me, is he a relative? A friend? Or a potential boyfriend?”

Baekhyun stops breathing at the last mentioned. “N-no, you’re wrong! H-he’s just a friend!”

“Oh,” Minseok blinks, “Damn, sorry for teasing you, I thought he might be a potential boyfriend because you have this extremely fond look while picking the stuff for him.”

 _Really? Is that how it looks like to others?_ Baekhyun wonders. Setting the thought aside, he quickly pulls his wallet out of his pocket and pays for the hoodie.

“Thank you for visiting our store. Please come back again soon,” Minseok says as he gives Baekhyun the shopping bag, which Baekhyun responds with a nod and quick smile before he walks out the store. If someone notices his flush cheeks, Baekhyun will convince them that it’s because of the cold weather, not because of the comment from Minseok that he can’t shake out of his mind.

—

Baekhyun is finally sixteen years old, and this year, he will celebrate Chanyeol’s birthday for the first time. Inside a different bag, he had prepared many things, including a small red velvet cake with _‘happy birthday chanyeol!’_ on it and the present he bought before. If only his parents let him bring Mongryong this year, it will be a perfect birthday party.

Once he arrived at his room, he puts down his other luggage and calls out, “Kyungsoo? Jongdae?”

Suddenly, Kyungsoo and Jongdae stand beside him, looking at him questioningly.

“I swear to God if this is your another attempt at calling us and see if we come or not, I’ll haunt you for the rest of your life,” Kyungsoo flatly states.

“No, no! I just want to tell you guys that you’re invited to Chanyeol’s birthday party,” Baekhyun shows them a glimpse of the cake, which gets a loud _‘whoa!’_ from Jongdae.

“Did you bring anything else?”

“Yeah, you’ll see later! Since we’ll celebrate it in the grass field, can you go there first with Chanyeol? I’ll join you all soon.”

Jongdae nods. “No problem! Let’s go, Kyungsoo!”

After both of them disappear from his room, Baekhyun immediately heads outside to the forest. After all those years coming to the forest every summer, Baekhyun is no longer the kid that will get lost as he remembers exactly which turn to take and how to go back.

When he arrived at the grass field, Chanyeol is sitting between Kyungsoo and Jongdae. “What is happening here?” he asks.

Baekhyun puts down the bag and takes the confetti poppers out and hands them out the party hats. “Wear this and Chanyeol, close your eyes.”

He can see the way Kyungsoo gives him a judging stare. “I’m not wearing that.”

“What are you talking about? We’re totally wearing this!” Jongdae takes the hat and force it on Kyungsoo, clearly annoyed the hell out of his friend but manages to finish the job as Kyungsoo looks grumpy with a yellow party hat.

“Why do you want me to close my eyes?” Chanyeol asks for an explanation after Jongdae puts the pink hat on him and the blue one on himself.

Baekhyun, ready with his red hat and confetti popper, lights up the candles on the cake and places it in front of Chanyeol. “Now, open your eyes.”

Almost immediately, Baekhyun pops the confetti and screams in unison with Kyungsoo and Jongdae, “Happy birthday, Chanyeol!”

It takes a moment of Chanyeol looking down at the cake and not doing anything, not even uttering a single word that makes Baekhyun worries if he doesn’t like the surprise.

“Chanyeol?”

“Yeah?” Chanyeol looks at him, “Sorry, I just don’t know what to say. I love the cake, um, I mean, thank you for the cake? And the hat and the… thing that spat the sparkling things? It’s beautiful, by the way.”

“It’s a confetti popper.”

“Yeah that. I’d really appreciate it, thank you,” Baekhyun hears a small sniffle. _Uh-oh._

“A-are you crying?”

Another laugh erupts from him. “Don’t worry, this is a happy tears.”

Before he says anything else, Jongdae already urges him to blow the candle quickly because it’s half melted now.

“But you have to make a wish first before blowing it. People believe it will make the wish come true,” Baekhyun tells him in a hurry. Chanyeol nods, putting his head down for a moment before he takes his mask off, takes a deep breath and blows the candles.

“Woohoo! Happy birthday, Chanyeol!” Jongdae shoots another confetti towards him.

“May your wish come true,” Kyungsoo adds, uncharacteristically smiling at him.

Looking straight at Baekhyun, Chanyeol also smiles and repeats, “May my wish come true.”

After that, they cut the cake and eats it together. Jongdae watching them in sadness, a big pout on his face, “Why can ghost eat human food?”

And after that, it’s finally the time that Baekhyun dreading since last year. “This is for you,” he offers the gift to Chanyeol and the latter carefully takes it.

He inspects it a little by shaking it, the crease on his forehead deepen almost immediately. “What is this? Can I open it now?”

“Sure.”

Chanyeol tears off the wrapping and pulls out the hoodie from the neat folding. Baekhyun is so used to him wearing a mask that the sparkle in his eyes look foreign to him, but not exactly unwelcome.

“Can I try it?”

Baekhyun nods. “Of course, it’s yours.”

Chanyeol immediately stands up and wears the hoodie on top of his t-shirt. He smoothes out the wrinkly edges before putting his hands inside the front pocket.

“I thought the winter in here will be colder than in Seoul so I bought you this. It’s quite thick so it will make you warm,” Baekhyun explains, “But if you don’t like it, it’s fine.”

“Are you kidding me? Of course, I like it!” Chanyeol twirls on his spot, “Thank you, Baekhyun. This is the best birthday ever!”

Somehow, it makes him feels a little bashful hearing how happy Chanyeol is with his gift.

“Now it’s your turn,” Chanyeol says.

“Huh?”

“Just close your eyes.”

“Um, okay?”

Baekhyun does as he told and he heard Chanyeol whispering to the other two before feeling something on his head. “Now open your eyes.”

Slowly opening his eyes, Baekhyun notices how wide Chanyeol’s smiles is and it’s making his heart thumps a little bit faster. “Happy birthday, Baekhyun.”

Baekhyun blinks in surprise before reaches up to his head and feels something soft under his touch. He brings it down to his point of view and gasps softly.

“You made me a flower crown?”

Decorated with white and pink flowers with tiny leaves here and there, the flower crown looks delicate yet beautiful on his hands. “I didn’t know you can make this.”

“Kyungsoo helped me,” there’s a sound of Jongdae protesting at the back, saying that he also helped, “Jongdae just kept commenting that I have clumsy hands.”

“But I love it,” Baekhyun puts it back carefully in his head, not wanting to ruin it, “This is so sweet and I really, _really_ love it.”

Chanyeol turns his head to the side to avert his gazes, but he’s a second too late because Baekhyun already sees the red on his cheeks, blossoming prettily just like the flowers on his crown. He almost reaches out to touch it, to feel his soft skin and the warmth radiating from his body, but he stops himself before he does something foolish like making Chanyeol disappears.

“Glad that you like it,” Chanyeol murmurs before he puts his mask back, hiding his face completely.

“Hey, don’t you think Baekhyun looks like a bride using a flower crown?” Jongdae blurts out, surprising the others by his thought.

“Does it mean Chanyeol is the groom?” Kyungsoo teasingly adds, which makes Baekhyun blushes furiously.

“Baekhyun and Chanyeol sitting in a tree, k-i-s-s-i-n-g—no, _no,_ I don’t mean it! I’m sorry!” Jongdae begs for forgiveness as Chanyeol stands up and chases after him. He disappears halfway through, leaving Chanyeol alone screaming, “Come back here, Kim Jongdae, you coward! It’s not fair if you do that!”

—

“What did you wish for at your birthday this year?” Chanyeol asks once Kyungsoo left to find Jongdae and they’re finally alone.

“I can’t say it,” He can feel confusion radiating from Chanyeol, “People said your wish won’t come true if you tell someone.”

“Even when I promise I won’t tell anyone else?”

Baekhyun laughs at that. “Okay, I’ll just give you a hint.”

“Okay? That’s fair, I guess.”

“I told my parents that I wanted to apply for arts high school next year.”

“Oh. And what did they say?”

“Same old, same old. That there are other schools that I can go for and it doesn’t have to be this way,” Baekhyun chuckles grimly, “But this time, I was stubborn. I said I wanted to make my own decision for my future and I wanted to spend my time doing something that I love instead of something that other people expect me to do. I think it made them upset but is it bad if I actually feel glad that I’m able to tell them about this? Does it make me a bad kid?”

“I think it’s for them to decide if you’re a bad kid or not, but I think you’re not. You have every right to voice out your opinion and your need.”

Not knowing what to say, Baekhyun fakes a smile as he says, “And that’s my hint. You must have known by now what I wished for.”

_He wishes for a miracle._

“Yeah, I know.”

“Do you think I wished for something impossible?”

“No, because I believe it will come true.”

Baekhyun doesn’t know how Chanyeol always manages to ease his worry. Maybe because the confidence demeanor he possessed and how positive he is all the time makes up for the lack of these two from Baekhyun’s side. Honestly, at this point, it seems like he can’t live his life without Chanyeol by his side.

Few moments later, he realizes the thought that just crossed his mind and start to feel like boiled shrimp suffering a heart palpitation. What the heck did he just think and why the more he thought about it, the more it sounds like it has a romantic connotation in it?

“Baekhyun, are you okay? Your face is red,” Chanyeol leans closer to him and it doesn’t do good to his heart.  

“I’m okay!” he yelps as he gets up quickly. “Um, I think it’s a little bit hot here. Maybe we can take a walk and find somewhere cooler?”

Without waiting for Chanyeol’s answer, Baekhyun already takes his bag and runs straight ahead.

“Baekhyun, wait for me! Why is everyone running away from me?”

—

Baekhyun never expected to start the second semester of his last year in middle school _this_ way. At one moment, he’s on his way to go home and the next second, he got called by a girl, shorter than him and has a soft looking hair, who looked at him expectantly while handing out something to him. “Will you accept this, please?”

He hesitantly accepted it but before he could say something, she walked away quickly, leaving Baekhyun confused at his spot.

Turned out he got a letter.

After he read what’s inside, turned out it was a _confession_ letter.

Baekhyun freaks out a little after that.

It’s the first time _ever_ for him to be confessed by someone and he doesn’t know what to do. He doesn’t know the girl but she wrote that she had noticed him since the first year. With them graduating soon, she doesn’t want to waste this chance and chooses to confess her feeling. Through the letter as well, she asks Baekhyun to meet her tomorrow at the back of the main building and gives her a reply.

_What should he do?_

“Baekhyun hyung!”

Baekhyun turns his head at the voice calling out to him and recognizes Jongin, one of his close neighbor who’s two years younger than him. He’s still wearing his uniform, meaning he’s also on his way back from school.

“Hey, long time no see, Jongin-ah,” Baekhyun says, “Am I imagining things or are you really taller than the last time we met?”

Jongin flashes his boyish smile. “Maybe I grew a little?”

Baekhyun huffs. “It’s not fair, you’re only a first-year student in middle school, why you have to be this tall? Why is it hard for me to get taller but you do nothing other than breathing yet you’re still growing?”

Jongin shrugs innocently. “Anyway, are you busy? I just got a new game from my friends, do you want to play it together?”

Thinking that he needs something to take his mind off the letter, he nods. “Yeah, sure.”

Baekhyun sends a quick chat to his parents, saying he’ll be at Jongin’s, which is only three doors away from Baekhyun’s place. They say okay and that’s all the permission he needs. Jongin unlocks the front door and walks inside, Baekhyun following closely behind.

“Oh, Junmyeon hyung is back early,” Jongin looks down at a pair of white sneakers by the door. Junmyeon is the oldest son of Kim’s family and he’s older by four years to Baekhyun. Three of them used to play together a lot but they rarely do that anymore the moment Junmyeon was busy with the preparation for university.

When Baekhyun sits on the comfy rug of Jongin’s room, Junmyeon enters the room and beams at Baekhyun the moment he notices him.

“Saw another pair of shoes out there but I didn’t think it would be you! Long time no see, Baekhyun.”

“Long time no see, hyung,” Baekhyun replies. “You seem busy lately.”

“Kinds of,” Junmyeon squints his eyes, “You look tired.”

Baekhyun laughs half-heartedly at that. “Observant as always.”

“Huh? Really? I didn’t notice that,” Jongin stares at his face. “Is it because you’re in senior year?”

“No, it just,” _screw it he really needs someone to talk about this_ , “Can I ask for an advice?”

“Of course,” the brothers answer in unison.

“Um, actually I got a letter today—a confession letter,” he catches the way Jongin scrunches his forehead in confusion.

“Really, hyung? You’re worrying about that?”

“It’s the first time I got something like this and I don’t know what to do. I don’t even know her and I don’t know what to say to her tomorrow.”

“Maybe you can give it a chance? Y’know, you can tell her that you want to get to know her first and start from there?” Junmyeon suggests.

Baekhyun thinks for a moment before he shakes his head, “I don’t think I can. I mean, she’s cute and sounds like a nice girl, but I can’t see myself doing that?”

“Why?”

“I don’t know,” Baekhyun sighs.

The brothers look at each other first before they return their attention back to Baekhyun. Jongin breaks the silence by, “Maybe you’re just not interested in dating? I think I’d never heard you had a girlfriend.”

Baekhyun thinks that might be the reason since it's true, he never had a girlfriend and although he found a girl cute or has a good personality, he never been interested enough to ask them for a date.

But then Junmyeon cuts his thought with, “Or perhaps you already like someone else?”

The question totally caught him off guard.

“W-what do you mean?” _Damn why he stutters,_ “I mean, if I like someone already, I should have known that by now.”

“Maybe you just didn’t realize it yet? But for real, do you ever be with someone that makes your heart skips a beat, or maybe there’s a tickling at the pit of your stomach?”

“Oh!” Jongin flicks his finger as he understands what Junmyeon means. “Or makes your face flushes at the thought of them or when you are near that someone?”

“Right, that too. But the most important thing, do you ever feel that you want to be with  someone as long as you can be, if it’s possible, maybe forever?” Junmyeon finishes up their long ass questions with a critical hit that makes Baekhyun freezes on his spot.

The first image that pops out of his mind is Chanyeol.

He remembers the fluttering feeling the first time he saw Chanyeol’s face, feeling his gaze straight on him for the first time. Or the time he becomes a stuttering mess when the clerk at the shop asked if the gift he bought is for a potential boyfriend. His heart also beats faster after Chanyeol gave him a birthday gift, thinking how sweet he is and he becomes another blushing mess when Kyungsoo and Jongdae teased them, saying they look like a groom and a bride. He remembers thinking he wants to touch Chanyeol a few times although he holds himself back pretty well.

And the most important, he remembers thinking that he can’t live without Chanyeol.

He must have been so shocked that Junmyeon squeezes his shoulder gently. “Are you okay?”

“Yeah, I’m good. There’s just so much to take in a day,” Baekhyun takes his bag and hastily gets up, “Sorry, Jongin-ah, I don’t think I can play with you today.”

“It’s okay, hyung. Let me see you off.”

The brothers walk him out to the door and Baekhyun notices the guilty look on Junmyeon’s face.

“I’m sorry if I said something wrong,” he says.

Baekhyun shakes his head. “No, I think you just helped me to understand something that I’d pretend to not realize after all these years. Thank you, hyung, and you too Jongin-ah.”

That night, laying on his bed while stroking Mongryong’s fur gently, Baekhyun recalls all the longing he had while he was away from Chanyeol. The way he always looks forward to summer break and keeps coming back all these years, just to be by Chanyeol’s side. The way he tries to keep distances short enough between them because not able to touch Chanyeol kills him sometimes. The way his heart aches everytime he needs to go back at the end of the week and once again, counting the days to the next summer.

When his eyes catch the sight of a flower crown on top of his table, he slowly reaches for it. Although it’s already withered and his mom kept trying to throw it away, Baekhyun still insists to keep it because it’s special. It’s the one that Chanyeol made for him as a gift and Baekhyun made sure that the flower crown is packed securely inside his bag when he went home to Seoul, so he could always keep it close to him because it is _that_ special to him.

He lets out a deep sigh, his fingers trace the line between each flower carefully.

_Why is he so blind?_

After all these years, why he never realizes that his feeling for Chanyeol goes way deeper than he thought—that it goes beyond summer, that he wants to be with chanyeol through the falling leaves in autumn, a pile of snows in winter and flowers that bloom in spring?

Why he only realizes now that he wants to be by Chanyeol’s side all year long because he’s in love with Chanyeol?

He suddenly erupts in laughter, startling Mongryong in process. _Boy, he’s_ so _screwed up._

A day after, Baekhyun meets the girl and tells her that he admires her courage to confess to him but sadly he can’t accept her. Thankfully, the girl is a nice one, just like he expected as she says, “No, it’s fine, really. But if it’s okay, can I know why...?”

 _Why can you accept me?_ The questions left unfinished.

“Um, there’s someone that I’d already like,” Baekhyun answers carefully, not wanting to hurt her even further.

“Ah, I see. I hope it goes well with that person.”

Although he doesn’t say it out loud, Baekhyun deeply hopes the same.

—

Exactly a week after that day, another unexpected incident happens.

It’s already late at night when Baekhyun is on his way back from the kitchen to drink some water and he hears a commotion from his parents’ room. It’s a little unusual because his parents usually already asleep by this time, so he knocks on their door. “Mom, Dad, is everything okay?”

His mom opens the door almost immediately and he can see the horror in her eyes.

“Mom, what happened?”

“Grandma’s neighbor just called your dad. She said grandma was found unconscious in her bathroom.”

Baekhyun swears his heart drops at that moment. “W-what? How? Is she okay?”

“She found her when she went to her house and no one answered the door, so she asked her husband to broke the door just in case something happened. They already brought her to the nearest doctor and the doctor said she suffered from hypoglycemia, but now she’s fine.”

“Oh my God, I hope she really is. Are you going to go there? Can I come with you?”

“Yes, in the morning. You just stay home, okay? We’ll call you once we’re there.”

Baekhyun wants to protest but he knows better that he’s likely will lose in an argument against his mom, so he doesn’t have any choice other than saying yes. The next morning, his parents are gone before Baekhyun woke up. His mom keeps her promise as she calls Baekhyun, saying that grandmother is truly okay but they will stay for few days to keep her company.

When his parents come back, they don’t say anything to Baekhyun until they’re having dinner together. “Mom will live with my sister,” His dad begins, “We’re worried that if something like this happen again, it might be too late. So she will move to my sister’s place in Busan.”

“What about grandma’s house?” Baekhyun asks.

“We will look for someone who’s interested to buy it starting from this month.”

_Huh?_

“So where am I gonna stay if I go there?”

His parents look at each other not so subtly before his mom clears her throat. “Baekhyun, you said you wanted to go to art school, right?”

Baekhyun doesn’t know where this conversation is going. “Yeah, why?”

“We have been thinking… and met an agreement that we’ll let you go to art school.”

The spoon suddenly slips from Baekhyun’s hand, clattering to his plate as he registers the words in. “R-really?”

“Yes, son,” his dad replies, “It will be a tough journey. I heard even their entrance exam is hard but we’ll fully support you if that’s what you want to do.”

 _Holy shit_. Baekhyun covers his mouth before he can scream in joy and disturb his neighbors. “Oh my God, thank you, Dad, Mom!”

“But you have to focus on your study from now on. High school is no joke and after that, comes college, which is even harder,” his mom adds, “We think it’s better for you to stay here in summer breaks and takes classes to prepare for that.”

The euphoria suddenly evaporates into thin air. “What?”

“And you can also take a music class. You stopped playing piano when you were kid, maybe you can pick it up again now,” his dad suggests him, oblivious to the change of mood in Baekhyun.

“So, are you saying that I can’t go to grandma’s place again?”

“Yes, but Baekhyun—”

The answer got lost halfway as Baekhyun’s head just won’t let the words sink in.

“Um, I’m done eating. I’ll go to my room now,” he murmurs as he brings his plate to the sink and goes to his room. Once he closes the door, Baekhyun lays on his stomach on the bed and falls asleep crying at the thought of never seeing Chanyeol again.

—

 _“I heard yesterday was the entrance ceremony for your school! How did it feel?”_ Grandmother asks when she’s on the phone with Baekhyun.

“It felt like a dream,” Baekhyun chuckles lowly, “Now, I’m Byun Baekhyun, the freshman student at Hanlim Multi Art School. Oh, oh, and I’m in the same year with some k-pop idols!”

_“Don’t tell me you’re going there just because you wanted to be their classmates.”_

“No, Grandma! I mean, of course, it sounds exciting but I’d also want to pursue this path because it’s my dream.”

_“I know, dear. Oh, anyway, are you coming here this summer?”_

Here it is, the question that Baekhyun wants to avoid the most.

“I don’t know, Grandma. Mom and Dad said I should focus on my study starting from this year,” he answers, suddenly remembering why this summer vacation doesn’t sound as excited as it used to be. “But aren’t you gonna move out soon?”

He remembers his parents said that the house is officially sold to an acquaintance of their family and grandmother will move out soon.

 _“Not until the summer ends. Can you give the phone to your dad, Baekhyun-ah?”_ she suddenly says.

“Okay?” Baekhyun gives the phone to his dad who’s watching the tv in the living room, “Dad, grandma wants to talk to you.”

He gives him the same confused look but still takes the phone from him. They talk for a while before he hangs up and looks at Baekhyun, “Mom said she needs someone to help to pack her stuff for moving out, will you help her?”

“Me? Yes, of course!”

Baekhyun doesn’t know what his grandmother said and why she went to that extent. Maybe she notices the way Baekhyun is attached to the hometown? There’s no way she found about Chanyeol, right?

Nonetheless, he’s really grateful for it. Now, he has a chance to meet Chanyeol, even it’s for the last time.

When summer comes, Baekhyun arrived at the house with a heavy heart instead of excitement that he always felt years before. Even his grandmother doesn’t look happy as her smile doesn’t reach her ears.

“I’m sorry that you have to help me. I don’t know that I have so many stuff here.”

“It’s fine, Grandma. I’m more than happy to help,” he says while taking the books out of the shelf, “Where all of this is going, Grandma?”

“You can get a new box and labels it as books because your grandma is forgetful.”

He laughs at that. “Okay.”

He sorts out the book and puts it neatly inside the cardboard. Once he’s done, he secures it with tapes but he’s out of it before he finishes sealing it.

“Grandma, do you have any tapes left?”

“Hm, I think I have it in the drawer on the living room.”

“Okay, I’ll get it.”

He gets up and walks out the room to the living room. He rummages through the drawer and finds two extra tapes, hoping that it will be enough for sealing all the boxes later. He goes back to the room but stops on his track when he sees his grandmother looking down on something on her lap. He can hear low sniffles and that’s his cue to leave her alone for a moment. He walks backward, but then he clumsily trips over his own foot, startled her in process.

“Um, sorry,” he murmurs when she looks at him with wet trails of tears on her cheeks.

“No, it’s fine,” she wipes her face hastily.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. I just found this photo album and feel a little bit emotional.”

Baekhyun glances at the photo of a happy looking couple standing in front of a gate and he recognizes who they are. “Is this grandma and grandpa?”

“Yes, this is when we just started to live in this house.”

“How long ago was this?”

“Maybe forty years ago?” she chuckles, “We just got married and we worked really hard to be able to purchase the house. It was all we had at that time.”

Baekhyun can hear the sadness dripping through her voice as she strokes the photo gently, “I have so many memories here, including the one with him in it. And when he’s gone, it still feels like he’s here because every corner reminds me of him. The way he read the newspaper by the window, when he sneakily drank a beer in the garden, or when he fell asleep on the floor in the living room.”

 _I don’t want to leave all the memories behind_ , the words left unspoken as she sobs quietly.

Before Baekhyun falls asleep that night, all he can remember is the way his grandmother shaking while crying and he grows scared at the thought of love being so powerful that it can hurt you to your deepest core.

—

Baekhyun spends two days helping his grandmother and almost everything is packed except some daily essentials. On the third day of his stay, Baekhyun finally goes to the forest again, bringing a bag fills with some ‘special’ things in it.

The sight of Chanyeol leaning to the tree leaves a mixed feeling to Baekhyun.

“Hey,” he greets. He immediately pulls out his phone and shows a picture of him wearing his new uniform. “Great news, I’m officially a freshman in art school!”

Chanyeol doesn’t greet him back, instead, he asks, “Is everything fine?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“You don’t look happy to me,” Baekhyun flinches at that, “and I know that you were here since two days ago yet you didn’t meet me, Kyungsoo told me.”

Baekhyun sighs. He doesn’t intend to start the conversation like this. He wants to avoid it like a plague but seems like he has to face the problem in front of him.

“Can we talk while we walk?”

Chanyeol immediately stands straight before he matches his step with Baekhyun.

Baekhyun honestly doesn’t know where to start, so he tells him about his grandmother first, how she fell sick last year and she will move away soon because they sold the house, then he tells him about his parents let him go to art school but also wanted him to focus on his study.

“Now that I’m in high school, this might be the last time I come here,” Baekhyun mutters. He tries hard not to cry because the thought of not seeing Chanyeol ever again hurts him.

“Hey, it’s okay,” Chanyeol assures him, just the way he always does, “Everything’s gonna fine. Who knows, maybe someday you can come here again.”

“To be honest, I’m tired of all those ‘maybe’,” he confesses. “And I’m so afraid that all those ‘maybe’ won’t work this time.”

Chanyeol suddenly stops in front of him and Baekhyun almost bumps into him.

“What are you doing?! I’m almost touched you!”

He simply ignores it. “Then let’s make the most of it. Let’s make the happiest memories so when we look back, there won’t be any room for sadness to come along.”

 _It’s impossible,_ he closes his mouth before he says so, but deep inside, he knows that he wants to believe in it.

“Okay, let’s do that, but first, let’s find a place to sit,” Baekhyun looks around before he settles at one spot and takes a seat, Chanyeol simply sits beside him. He starts taking a box out of his bag.

“What’s that?”

He opens the lid and grins, showing a classic chocolate cake inside it. “It’s your birthday cake.”

Seeing Chanyeol stops moving, Baekhyun blinks in confusion. “What? I told you I would celebrate your birthday every summer, there’s nothing shocking here,” He pulls out the party hats and makes Chanyeol wearing the blue one.

“No, it just—it still feels weird for me to do this, y’know. This whole birthday thing, ” Chanyeol says. “Thank you, Baekhyun.”

Not expecting to hear that, Baekhyun is speechless for a moment.

“Um, yeah, no problem. Quick, quick, make a wish and blows the candles,” he says after lighting it, and Chanyeol enthusiastically does so.

“Happy birthday, Chanyeol! I hope you’ll like it,” Baekhyun pulls out something and hands it to Chanyeol. He tears down the wrapper and takes out a long, black and white stripes scarf. Baekhyun thinks it will go well together with the hoodie that he gave him before. Suddenly, Chanyeol does the unexpected by putting it on around his neck right away, ignoring Baekhyun’s weird stare.

“Um, Chanyeol, we’re in the middle of hot summer,” he reminds him, “You supposed to wear that in the winter.”

“It’s fine. I’m not particularly ever feel hot or cold.”

“Oh. Then my gifts are no use for you?”

“No, that’s not what I mean!” Chanyeol waves his hands in panic, “I wear it because it’s from you. It reminds me of you and it feels like you’re here with me.”

Feels embarrassed by the sweet words, Baekhyun turns his head away in order to hide his flush cheeks. “Okay, I get it.”

They spend their time doing their usual things, like talking and fall asleep on the field, but they also do something new this time. Chanyeol teaches him to make flower crown and they make so many that Baekhyun convinces he can open a shop because of that. He brings some of it back home and his grandmother has been displaying it in the living room, saying it’s so pretty and she needs to show it off for sure.

In exchange, Baekhyun brings origami papers that he found in his grandmother’s drawer and she let him have it. He teaches him how to turn it into something else like a bird or a plane, and Chanyeol turns out to be better than him as he learns fast and can make one without Baekhyun helping him.

“Somehow, this feels really calming,” Chanyeol says after he’s done making small stars in different colors, “Maybe we should teach Jongdae so he finds something to focus on and be quiet once in a while.”

Baekhyun shows Chanyeol the music videos of his favorite k-pop songs so far, this time from boy groups. Chanyeol won’t stop getting awed by the song, the aesthetic of the music video and of course, the dance. He clumsily follows the moves in the chorus of EXO’s Monster. “I swear to God their feet have their own mind, like how come it can move like that?”

They also go to the river and swim in it until the sun starts to set. Baekhyun actually had a hard time ignoring the way Chanyeol swam only in his shorts because it's his first time seeing him shirtless.  He had a really, _really_ dangerous thought right there and then.

Two days before Baekhyun goes home to Seoul, Chanyeol asks him, “What time your grandmother falls asleep at night?”

“Around nine? I don’t know the exact time. Why?”

“Can you come here tomorrow night?”

“Huh? For what?”

“It’s a secret and nope, I’m not gonna tell you even with you looking at me with those kicked puppy eyes,” Baekhyun stops doing so and clicks his tongue, he thought Chanyeol would surely give in if he did it, “Just come tomorrow, okay?”

“Is this have anything to do with my gift?”

Looking at how Chanyeol goes rigid, Baekhyun immediately grins. “Oh, I’m right! Now I can’t wait for it!”

Knowing he can’t deny the truth, Chanyeol simply says, “It’s nothing special.”

“It doesn’t matter,” Baekhyun shrugs. He will always appreciate everything no matter how small it is, especially if it’s from Chanyeol.

The next night, Baekhyun heard his grandmother closes her door and doesn’t come out for almost an hour, then he knows he’s safe to go. He tiptoeing to the front door and opens it as slow as he can, trying hard not to make any noises.

Walking to the forest in the middle of the night sure is a bit creepy, but he feels safe once again when he sees Chanyeol, waiting while playing with his scarf. Since the day Baekhyun gave him, he never takes it off even once. Baekhyun can’t help to become giddy seeing he treats the gift like he treasures it a lot.

Strangely, tonight, he doesn’t wear his fox mask, instead, he ties it around his waist.

“Why you don’t wear your mask?” he asks, voice fills with pure curiosity although he prefers it this way because he can see Chanyeol’s expression without the mask covering it.

“You’ll see later,” he winks.

 _Oh God, why did he do that?_ He looks a like an idol winking so naturally at him and it makes his pulse speeds up. _Get yourself together, Byun Baekhyun!_

The path they walk along is an unfamiliar one, and it’s strange to think they never went this way before. The closer they get to the place, Baekhyun can hear the sound of people talking and laughing, as if the forest is bustling with activities, which is really weird and creepy at the same time.

Chanyeol moves the bush aside and there is it, the sources of the sound.

A festival.

“What is this?” Baekhyun takes a step closer to see more clearly. He sees a row of food and game stands that reminds if of a summer festival.

“This is a festival that we have once a year in summer. Will you believe me if I say all of them are spirits?”

Baekhyun stares at a couple walking past by and a child holding tightly to a women’s hand. “Really? They look like… human.”

“Most of them are ghosts, the rest are the forest spirits who take the form of a human so it feels like the ‘real’ festival in the human world,” Chanyeol emphasizes the word with making a quote by his hands. That must be why he took off his mask. “They say that human children come by sometimes, blending between us.”

“That’s why I can come here,” Baekhyun looks in awe at a man making a big cotton candy. “Do you come here often?”

“No, it was too noisy for my liking, but I think you will like it. It’s the perfect birthday gift,” Chanyeol smiles. “Actually, I’ve always wanted to ask you to come, but you were too young and I don’t want you to get in trouble if they discover a child wandering around the forest in the middle of a night.”

Baekhyun thinks he’s melting by how sweet Chanyeol is. Is it possible to fall in love even harder by each day?

“Then let’s go! I want to look around!”

Initially, Baekhyun wants to try eating something but he’s too scared to do so because ‘ _where the hell they get all the ingredients?’_ so he settles with playing at some game stands. Chanyeol tries to show off in shooting game although he fails to get Baekhyun a teddy bear, but he revives his image when he helps a kid getting a fish by a thin fishnet.

“Thank you!” the kid beams at them before running through the crowd.

The night is getting late, and Chanyeol has an anxious look on his face for a split second. “Let’s go back before your grandmother noticed you went missing.”

Baekhyun gives a half-hearted hum, not wanting this moment to end, but he knows that it’s impossible. Tonight, he’ll say his goodbye to Chanyeol and tomorrow, he’ll be on his way back to Seoul. Tonight might be the end of everything.

For the first time in a while, they fall into silence as they walk, just like the first time they met. Usually, it’s Baekhyun who breaks the silence first, but this time, Chanyeol start first with, “Hey, can I give you a hug?”

“What?!” Baekhyun turns to him, “Are you crazy?!”

“Baekhyun, listen to me first—”

“No! You know you will disappear if you do that!”

“And I’m okay with that.”

Baekhyun almost scream another _‘what?!’_ at his face again when he sees how serious Chanyeol is. “What do you mean by that?”

Instead of answering his question, Chanyeol shows him a smile.

“Y’know, when I saw you for the first time—a scared kid who got lost in the middle of the forest—I thought _‘what a pain’_ and tried to drive you away, but then you came back with popsicles as a thank you, showing me that you’re actually a kid with a kind heart. I think started from there, something had changed.”

“As the time goes by, you grew up and my feeling also grew into something else. I can’t stop thinking about you when you’re not here and I miss you, like, _a lot_. You made me wanted to go to Seoul with you, you made me think that you’re the most beautiful person I’ve ever seen when you wore the flower crown with the red tint blooming on your cheeks and the most bizarre thing of all, you made me wanted to touch you. You made me want to lean on to you, hold your hand, give you a hug and… feels your lips against mine. I’d never feel something like this before and I asked Kyungsoo and Jongdae about it.”

He looks straight into Baekhyun’s eyes, just like the first time he revealed his face, when he says, “They said what I felt was love.”

The first thing that Baekhyun does is pinching his arm and he winces in pain. _Shit._

“This is not a dream?”

“No, this is real,” Chanyeol closes their distance, “I’m in love with you, Baekhyun. And I’ve been thinking for the past few days, if I will never see you again, I want to touch you. I want to give myself to you.”

“But you were the one who said we can meet again someday!”

“I know, and I’m so sorry but I can’t always be positive all the time. I know that even if we do meet again someday, this relationship will never go the way we want. I know my place, I know I’m neither spirit or human and I can’t touch or being near you. You deserve more than that,” Chanyeol's smile looks really, _really_ sad to him, “You deserve to be able to hold hands, to hug, to kiss, to be close to the one you love. I know I can’t give you that, and I’m so sorry that it has to be like this.”

Baekhyun can’t deny that what Chanyeol just said it’s right. He knows that there’s no certain future for this relationship because they are different. And not only Baekhyun who has a need, Chanyeol has it too. He can’t give what he wants either.

“But I’ve promised to never let you disappear. I’ve promised myself not to break it no matter what happens.”

“Then let’s make another promise to replace this one,” Chanyeol raises up his pinky finger, “Promise me that you’ll chase after your dream and becomes a great singer, that you’ll be happy and live your life to the fullest.”

“You know I can’t do that!” Baekhyun snaps, “You know I can’t be happy without you.”

“Baekhyun—”

“I love you,” his voice thick with emotion,  “How am I supposed to live happily if you’re not there anymore?”

“Yes, you can. Do you know that in every downpour, once it goes away, a beautiful rainbow comes? I believe that there’s always a good thing after the pain, and I want you to believe in it too.”

Baekhyun’s mind is a mess. He knows he needs to stand firm, but he also notices how this decision also hurt Chanyeol the way it hurts him. He really wants to put an end to this pain, so they can be in peace.

Holding back his tears, Baekhyun hopes he does the right thing. He shakily raises his pinky finger, looking up to Chanyeol, “I promise, and I’d also promise that no matter what happens, I will _never_ forget you.”

Chanyeol seems to be stunned by his words before he smiles again, this time he finally looks happier than before. “Thank you, Baekhyun,” he opens his arms wide enough for Baekhyun, “Come here.”

Baekhyun takes a last look at Chanyeol, burns his image inside his head before he does the thing that he always wanted to do. He runs to Chanyeol and leaps to his arms.

“I love you,” he whispers, his arms tightening around his neck. He feels the warmth radiating from their touches.

“I love you too,” Chanyeol whispers back.

Slowly, Chanyeol whole body is engulfed by blinding lights and Baekhyun watches in horror. “Chanyeol—”

“Don’t look. Just close your eyes,” Chanyeol cradles his face gently before he shuts him with a kiss.

Then he’s gone.

There’s nothing left inside Baekhyun’s arms other than Chanyeol’s clothes and he clings to it as cries his heart out. He cries for everything, for the fate that cruelly let them met, for Kyungsoo and Jongdae because he took away their precious friends, for Chanyeol who’s suffering all these years.

“Baekhyun.”

Baekhyun forces himself to turn around, his eyes meeting with Kyungsoo’s large ones. “I’m so sorry, I broke the promise,” he croaks out.

Kyungsoo shakes his head. “You don’t have to say sorry. Afterall, it’s what Chanyeol always wanted.”

Jongdae nods in agreement. “Chanyeol is precious to us and we do want to stay together with him forever, but Chanyeol fell in love with a human—with you, and he wanted to touch you. If that makes him happy, then we’ll be happy for him too,” he kneels next to Baekhyun as he offers him something.

“This is the hoodie that I gave to Chanyeol last year,” he fixes his gaze onto the clothes.

“Yeah, Chanyeol wore it almost every day. He treasured it a lot,” Jongdae pushes it to him, “We want you to have it.”

“W-why?”

“So you can remember him.”

Kyungsoo nudges him Chanyeol’s mask that falls to the ground. “Please, take it with you.”

Baekhyun’s hands tremble as he accepts it and he brings it into his face, inhaling the smell of the forest, sunshine, and Chanyeol in it. In exchange, he gives them the clothes that Chanyeol wore, including the stripes scarf. “Please, don’t forget him.”

“We won’t,” Kyungsoo is hesitant at first before he asks, “Do you know what he always wished for on his birthday?

Baekhyun shakes his head. He did say that the wish won’t come true if someone else knows, so Chanyeol never told him.

“He wished for you to always be happy,” Kyungsoo chuckles lowly, “He said maybe Mountain God will hear it, and he can help him to grant the wish.”

Another tears fall to the mask as he murmurs, “He’s such a fool.”

A fool who always puts Baekhyun first over him _._ A fool who makes his heart aching with heartbreak, but someday, instead of the Mountain God, maybe Baekhyun himself will be able to grant this fool’s wish.

—

When morning comes, Baekhyun is getting ready to go back to Seoul. He puts Chanyeol’s hoodie on top of his others stuff inside his bag. He takes the mask and can’t help to strokes it gently, imagining the face of the man he loves. “Thank you for everything,” he gives it a kiss and lays it beside the hoodie.

Once everything is packed, he zips it and slings it across his shoulder.

“Baekhyun-ah, your ride is here!”

“Coming, Grandma!” he yells back as he heads out of the house.

Right in front of the gate, he steals a last glance to the faraway forest. He gives it a smile before he hops into the car and closes the door.

—


End file.
